On March 9, the Miami Heat’s Meyers Leonard yelled an absolutely atrocious word while live-streaming on “Call of Duty.” After getting sniped at, Leonard hesitated before saying an anti-Jewish slur clearly and intentionally into a microphone. While Leonard was suspended for a week and fined $50,000, this is not enough. While Leonard apologized, that is not enough.
Perhaps the more dangerous notion in this story comes from Leonard’s apology. In it, he writes, “while I didn’t know what the word meant at the time, my ignorance about its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse.” The issue really might be that he did not know what the word meant, if he is actually telling the truth in the first place. How can someone be so uneducated regarding an issue like this? I understand that there are only a few Jewish pockets across the nation, especially where Leonard is from in Virginia. According to Best Places, a real estate and residential geography website, 0.1% of the Woodbridge, Virginia population is Jewish. Despite this, Leonard knew the word and that it held a negative connotation, given the context in which he said it. That alone should be grounds for never uttering the word. While he was not fired, Leonard was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder who said he would not report to the team. Good on the Thunder for keeping someone like this out of its building.
Beyond not understanding how painful the word is for many people of the Jewish faith like myself, the owner of the Heat, Micky Arison, is Jewish. Imagine how moronic someone has to be to say a word like this that directly offends his or her boss. Leonard was basically begging to get fired.
Perhaps one of the reasons why this scandal upsets me so much is because of how the public reacts to antisemitic statements and actions. Last summer, DeSean Jackson misattributed a quote to Adolf Hitler, posting on his Instagram story, “… Jews will blackmail America. They will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work …” Yet another heinous and misinformed statement, as the quote is actually from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. And again, Jackson did not face immediate outrage or calls to be released. Instead, the Eagles’ statement said that the team was “disappointed” in him and are committed to have “productive and meaningful conversations” to help him grow.
Antisemitism happens beyond professional sports. According to Statista, there was over 2,100 antisemitic incidents in 2019. This, just like with any other hate crime, is far too many.
I will give Jackson some credit, as he took his education seriously after the post. He met with the Chair of the Philadelphia Holocaust memorial and accepted an education session, according to the chair David Adelman. This is the type of learning that will make sure Jackson and people like him never make a mistake like this again.
Despite Jackson’s apology, I still struggle to answer the question of, “is that enough?”
How can I sit here and be okay with someone trying to quote Hitler, someone who wiped out my people? How can Jackson even defend himself? He quoted Hitler. As a society, it is well-known that Hitler is an awful human – and that is an understatement – so why did Jackson do it?
Looking back at Leonard, I do not know if I could forgive him too. According to Adam Silver, the NBA’s commissioner, Leonard spoke to representatives of the Anti-Defamation League. Silver added that “he is genuinely remorseful,” but I want more than remorse.
Leonard needs to do more. Go to Auschwitz, Holocaust memorials or other informative sights. Learn about the word. See how much it hurts people of the Jewish faith. Step up and show your remorse in actions not words. I want to see hours of education and a true understanding of the magnitude of the word he used, and even then, I am not sure if that is enough.
After all, he knew it was a slur, so why say it?
Photo from Flickr
